Racism and Bias Initiative’s
Resources for Transformational Change
Transformational change in any organization is not easy. It requires commitment, intention, and sometimes even guidance.
Through our journey at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, we have identified and created areas to accomplish our mission to undo racism and bias in academic medicine. It is our hope that you use the resources below to guide you through transformational change for this purpose at your own institutions. Whether you are just curious about how to begin or are steadily in-action, these six area resources are for you.
Transformational Change
Systems Thinking: Iceberg Model
You cannot identify where and what should change within a system without first understanding the system itself. The application of the iceberg model allows us to look at a system through different lenses and introduce a new way to talk about the experiences we each have of what is happening in the system. It forces us to expand our horizons and not limit ourselves to looking at just a single activity or event, but to step back and identify the patterns that that event is part of, the possible structures that might be contributing to those patterns, and the thinking or mental models and values that are sustaining those structures. From this place we can uncover root causes and areas where we can take sound action towards real systems change that is transformational.
Identifying Levers of Change (Change Targets)
Once you have identified areas where you would like to see change using the Iceberg Model, the ZIP Analysis can be conducted to identify change targets or concise people dependent goals, desired outcomes, or end result. The ZIP Analysis provides a framework for groups to identify potential areas for interventions and innovations that can be used as leverage points for impacting the system. These key points, or levers of change, should be centered around the Iceberg debrief developed in the Iceberg model workshop. Consider these levers of change as inflection points where a small shift in one thing can have a cascading domino effect to produce big changes, just as destroying a single load-bearing wall could bring down an entire house.
Developing Tactical Plans with a Graphic Organizer
Often it is challenging to effectively plan for change with a group of people. The Game Plan graphic organizer is a wonderful tool to help facilitate the creation of a robust tactical plan. It allows you to visualize your change target and the steps that need to be taken to get there, along with the success factors and the challenges that you will face along the way. By using the Game Plan graphic organizer, your team can turn your plans and words into real action.
Monitoring Change with Outcome Journals and Strategy Journals
To help aid in identifying behavioral change, you can use an outcome journal to monitor progress over time. Then, in order to monitor the effectiveness of your actions, you can use a strategy journal to record data on the approaches being employed.
Results-Based Accountability
Results-Based Accountability™ (RBA) is used as a framework to create a plan for collecting data to ensure you are capturing how much you did (quantity), how well you did it (quality), and if anyone is better off (effect).
Equity Lens
Equity Lens
An equity lens is a process for analyzing or diagnosing the impact of the design and implementation of policies on underserved and marginalized individuals and groups, and to identify and potentially eliminate barriers. This is often done by asking equity-based questions in decision-making environments. Equity questions are centered on the “five Ps” – people, place, process, power, and purpose. Asking equity questions and facilitating a framed discussion around them is essential to employing an equity lens.
Brave Space & Conversations
Creating a Brave Space for Conversations about Race
The course is a two-part series providing you with tools to develop increased confidence to facilitate discussions around race and racism with your colleagues and teams. You will also learn behaviors essential for leading brave conversations, including the importance of active listening and having a growth mindset. Once you have completed the course, you will have the opportunity to join Brave Space for Conversation Circles, an optional, monthly, peer-to-peer coaching program. This class is designed for leaders who have at least one direct report. Please note the materials covered in the series are sequential and so the first course should be completed before the second course.
To find upcoming dates, log into peak.mountsinai.org and search “Brave.”
“Time-In” & Biased Conversations
“Time-In”: A Tool for Interrupting Bias in Medical School Admissions Committee Meetings
During high-stakes committee meetings, bias is often expressed but goes uninterrupted because there is no formal structure to interrupt it. Bias impacts decision-making and can further disadvantage those from backgrounds that have been marginalized. The MD and MD–PhD admissions committees at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in NY in the 2020–2021 admissions season introduced a “Time-In” tool to interrupt bias during committee meetings. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of implementing the “Time-In” tool on committee members’ perception of bias as a problem and the likelihood of committee members recognizing, reporting, discussing, and educating others about bias after implementation.
United in Solidarity
United in Solidarity
Created by the Mount Sinai Health System’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion, United in Solidarity is a catalog of books, print and social media to learn about racism, prejudice, and bias in America as well as causes to support the fight against injustice.
Roadmap Conversations Toolkit
Road Map Conversations Toolkit
This toolkit provides resources for you to learn more about our efforts, including the Task Force to Address Racism and their set of recommendations housed in the Road Map for Action. While we encourage everyone to refer to these resources, the information is specifically designed for managers so they may foster conversations about anti-racism into their day-to-day environments with their teams.
If you have any questions about how best to use these resources, please email us.